A/N thanks for your reviews and support.
21JumpStreetMcQuaids: thanks for your review my friend. I'm so glad you enjoy it. Here is the infamous update.
Fangtasia21: thanks for your review my friend. That would be disastrous to say the least.
Neal's POV
Leaving Germany was infinitely more complicated than entering. Keller was on the hunt for him and seemed to have eyes everywhere. It was getting harder and harder to lose the man with each close call.
Then he had to contend with his father. Bruce couldn't know that he was there. All the same he stuck around and it was by pure luck that he had avoided the man so far.
Neal knew he had to leave Germany. Things were too hot to stick around and he needed to get out.
It took Mozzie calling in a favor for him to leave the country unseen. The night before he set up a safety deposit box under an alias from Teen Titans days.
Inside the box he placed one of the last remaining photos of his life as Richard Grayson. The photo was of him and Bruce. They were at an amusement park. He couldn't have been older than seven or eight.
There was two more pictures that he almost always carried with him. They were reminders of who he was and the life he left behind. One in particular held a special place in his heart. It was stained heavily with blood but the picture could still be seen.
All the Wayne boys were in it including Bruce and Alfred. They were all grinning. Some were more than others but the happiness was obvious.
Neal remembered the exact day that it was taken. Just over a year before he left Gotham.
He only took three pictures with him when he left. They were supposed to remind him who he was. Now he thought he kept them as a reminder of how far he had fallen. The boy he was growing up wouldn't steal forva living. His old self would catch the person he had become.
Neal knew that the day he killed his first person that he could never face his family again. Jason was the only one who killed but even then it was as a last resort. They would never accept that he killed so easily.
So he left the picture as a way of saying goodbye. That they would stop the search. He didnt want to be found and that was his choice.
The next morning he was on a plane out of the country. Rome was his next destination. Good money could be made there.
Bruce's POV
He originally only intended to stay in the area for a day or so before moving on. Tracking his wayward son was no easy task to begin with. Add that they only had a vague idea of where to find him that made it all the more difficult.
There was something that didn't let him leave. There were times he felt that he was being watched. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't find who was watching.
It was on the fourth morning that he got a message from Oracle. He received an address and a name. The name recognized as one of Richard's aliases. This was the first time son had used one of his aliases.
The address was that of a local bank. It explained the feeling of being watched. His son was in Germany or had been. Knowing his son Richard was long gone.
Bruce knew that he had to see what was left for him. Richard wouldn't have used the alias if there wasn't something to find.
The bank let him in without any issues. They had been alerted that he would likely come.
He was taken to the vault with the safety deposit box. When asked why he didnt have to give confirmation, he was informed that they were told, "If Bruce Wayne comes into the bank he must be given the contents of this box. But it can only be Bruce Wayne no one else."
Once again being a billionaire worked for and against him. Opening the box there was a singular item in it. It was a very familiar photograph taken just before the incident with Two Face. Right before Richard left for Jump.
He and Richard were standing just inside an amusement park. That day was one of their better days. Richard had become headstrong in his teenage years. They argued more and more until it reached a boiling point. Then he was gone to Jump.
The first runaway had hurt but at least he knew where his son was. They eventually were able to work it out when Richard turned 15.
Then a mere two years later Richard was gone again. Bruce was ashamed to admit it had taken a lot longer for him to realize the oldest was gone. His son was known to disappear for a week or two at a time. So it didnt worry him until he got the call.
He just wanted his son back now. Knowing that he was alive wasn't enough. Though it did ease the worries that had begun to eat at him. Still he wanted to hold his son in his arms and remind the boy that became a man that he was still important. That there were those cared for him.
The picture however was a two part message. The first being that he was still alive and out there. Second was infinitely more painful. It was a goodbye message. He was asking them to call off the hunt. That he didn't want to be found.
Bruce had to force himself to not accidentally crumple the photo. It was one of the best pictures they had. One where it was just the two of them.
He could not abide by his son's wishes. There was no way that he would stop searching now.
A/N thanks for your patience in this update. For the next two months my updates will be slow. I have a broken collarbone and it makes typing slow.
